Shadowflag - The Delusion Machine
Label: Independent
Release date: 23.06.17
Shadowflag were never like the others. They have never been just another black metal band; all face paint and fury, blast beats and Lucifer. Shadowflag take the inherent magic of black metal and use it to fire their collective imagination, letting the two forces then work together to sculpt something unique and darkly beautiful. The robust riffs of thrash, the melancholy splendour of doom, the spirit and energy of pure metal, all of these elements have been seduced into opening their veins and bleeding their essence into the pitch black elixir of Shadowflag’s music, adding depth and substance to the shadows. For their first, self-titled album, Shadowflag wove their musical threads through the backdrop of an epic poem and this poetic heart is still the force that pumps the lifeblood through their music.
The band’s second album, The White Grave, released in 2015, was inspired by the stories told by the abandoned and forgotten street children of the world and refined Shadowflag’s matchless blend of blackened metal, poetry and enthralling soundscapes...all of which has lead us to today, to The Delusion Machine. Built upon the premise that humanity’s existence is essentially, terrifyingly empty and without purpose The Delusion Machine is Shadowflag’s greatest achievement to date. Recorded at Hellfire Studios with the assistance of Ajeet Gill (Memoriam, Hellbastard, Sacrilege etc), this third album sees the Shadowflag entity becoming something more frightening and yet more enticing and entrancing than ever before. Driven forward with added intensity by the rhythmic power of Anaal Nathrakh’s live drummer, Anil Carrier, songs like the bleakly brilliant ‘The Brutality’ reach incredible artistic heights.
There are always bold claims made when a band releases their latest album, but when you’re lost in the desperate darkness of ‘The Inevitability’, or tasting the distillation of nightmares ‘Within The Blood Dream’ you’ll understand that Shadowflag have become something very special indeed. Darker than the night sky, Shadowflag are building a celestial kingdom of their own within the black metal firmament.
Genre: Poetic Black Metal
For fans of: Satyricon | Imperium Dekadenz | Blut Aus Nord
Line-up:
JJ Flames – Vocals/Bass
Paul ‘Carps’ Carpenter - Guitars
Jake Doherty – Guitars
Gray Preston – Backing Vocals/Noise
